Albert Park F1 Circuit Layout & Lap Record

Description

Albert Park - Australia

Crash of Ralf Schumacher 2002 F1 GP Australia

Albert Park's idyllic setting, relaxed environment, popular racing circuit and unexpected results have made it the perfect place for the opening round of the Formula 1 World Championship.

The temporary circuit has been used since 1996, when it replaced Adelaide as Australia's host. It surrounds the Albert Park Lake and offers a picturesque setting with its low trees and high sun. It is the pristine metaphor for what Formula 1 is about

A wide street circuit, Albert Park has very few demanding corners and is instead filled with fast flowing turns. It is notoriously slippery and many drivers have been caught out on its slippery surface.

Overtaking can be difficult due to the lack of long straights on the track, but two DRS zones have helped that in recent years.

When the cars race around Melbourne, it's as if the sport has returned to its roots. Winding, bumpy and slippery roads set around a stunning location in a country that has a long history in motor sport.

Albert Park, like no other track, holds an unrivalled sense of optimism. This is why it's special. Everyone thinks they can win, and history suggests they can.

Three corners in detail

Turn 3
After the quick flick of turn 2, the cars build up to 300km/h, but this 90° right hander is taken at 90km/h so engine braking on entry is crucial. There also needs to be good engine pick-up on the exit, as this immediately leads into a quick left-right flick: if the driver misses the exit the rhythm is compromised.

The fuelling at the exit of the T3 is therefore key and there must be appropriate fuel in the combustion chamber to ensure the engine can produce the power needed. It also needs to be ignited quickly so the quantity has to be completely correct.

Turns 11 & 12
This double corner is the fastest turn on the circuit, taken at 225km/h with the speed largely carried through. After exiting turn 11 there are two quick downshifts to fifth gear, but the driver will still be very aggressive on the throttle application.

This sustained momentum, coupled with the left hand turn generates g-forces of up to 3.5g through turn 11. That sort of g-force pushes everything to the right for a short duration, including fuel and lubricants. The engine still needs to respond to the driver's demand, despite this heavy load. It needs to produce a lot of torque aggressively, but still has to be precise in its delivery to go through turn 12 and get back up to speed on the run down to turn 13.

Turns 15 & 16

Nico Rosberg, Mercedes W06 sparkling

Turns 15 and 16 are linked as an extended chicane but the tendency is to brake too late into 15, which messes up 16. Engineers will work on giving a good balance by delivering the right level of overrun support into 15; ultimately keeping the engine torque stable when the driver is off-throttle and on the brakes.

If the overrun support is correct, the rear of the car is stabilised without too much push so the driver does not struggle to turn in. The exit of turn 16 is tricky as the driver is not at full throttle until fourth gear, instead dancing and hovering around in third as he tries to get the power down.

Podiums

F1 Podium Winners on Albert Park Circuit

Year	Race	Date	Top 3 Drivers	Teams	Laps
2023	2023 Australian F1 GP	April 2	Max Verstappen Lewis Hamilton Fernando Alonso	Red Bull Mercedes Aston Martin	58
2024	2024 Australian F1 GP	March 24	Carlos Sainz Charles Leclerc Lando Norris	Ferrari Ferrari McLaren	58
2022	2022 Australian F1 GP	April 10	Charles Leclerc Sergio Pérez George Russell	Ferrari Red Bull Mercedes	58
2019	2019 Australian F1 GP	March 17	Valtteri Bottas Lewis Hamilton Max Verstappen	Mercedes Mercedes Red Bull	58
2018	2018 Australian F1 GP	March 25	Sebastian Vettel Lewis Hamilton Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari Mercedes Ferrari	58
2017	2017 Australian F1 GP	March 26	Sebastian Vettel Lewis Hamilton Valtteri Bottas	Ferrari Mercedes Mercedes	57
2016	2016 Australian F1 GP	March 20	Nico Rosberg Lewis Hamilton Sebastian Vettel	Mercedes Mercedes Ferrari	57
2015	2015 Australian F1 GP	March 15	Lewis Hamilton Nico Rosberg Sebastian Vettel	Mercedes Mercedes Ferrari	58
2014	2014 Australian F1 GP	March 16	Nico Rosberg Kevin Magnussen Jenson Button	Mercedes McLaren McLaren	57
2013	2013 Australian F1 GP	March 17	Kimi Räikkönen Fernando Alonso Sebastian Vettel	Lotus F1 Ferrari Red Bull	58
2012	2012 Australian F1 GP	March 18	Jenson Button Sebastian Vettel Lewis Hamilton	McLaren Red Bull McLaren	58
2011	2011 Australian F1 GP	March 27	Sebastian Vettel Lewis Hamilton Vitaly Petrov	Red Bull McLaren Renault	58
2010	2010 Australian F1 GP	March 28	Jenson Button Robert Kubica Felipe Massa	McLaren Renault Ferrari	58
2009	2009 Australian F1 GP	March 29	Jenson Button Rubens Barrichello Jarno Trulli	Brawn Brawn Toyota	58
2008	2008 Australian F1 GP	March 16	Lewis Hamilton Nick Heidfeld Nico Rosberg	McLaren BMW Sauber Williams	58
2007	2007 Australian F1 GP	March 18	Kimi Räikkönen Fernando Alonso Lewis Hamilton	Ferrari McLaren McLaren	58
2006	2006 Australian F1 GP	April 2	Fernando Alonso Kimi Räikkönen Ralf Schumacher	Renault McLaren Toyota	57
2005	2005 Australian F1 GP	March 6	Giancarlo Fisichella Rubens Barrichello Fernando Alonso	Renault Ferrari Renault	57
2004	2004 Australian F1 GP	March 7	Michael Schumacher Rubens Barrichello Fernando Alonso	Ferrari Ferrari Renault	58
2003	2003 Australian F1 GP	March 9	David Coulthard Juan Pablo Montoya Kimi Räikkönen	McLaren Williams McLaren	58
2002	2002 Australian F1 GP	March 3	Michael Schumacher Juan Pablo Montoya Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari Williams McLaren	58
2001	2001 Australian F1 GP	March 4	Michael Schumacher David Coulthard Rubens Barrichello	Ferrari McLaren Ferrari	58
2000	2000 Australian F1 GP	March 12	Michael Schumacher Rubens Barrichello Ralf Schumacher	Ferrari Ferrari Williams	58
1999	1999 Australian F1 GP	March 7	Eddie Irvine Heinz-Harald Frentzen Ralf Schumacher	Ferrari Jordan Williams	57
1998	1998 Australian F1 GP	March 8	Mika Häkkinen David Coulthard Heinz-Harald Frentzen	McLaren McLaren Williams	58
1997	1997 Australian F1 GP	March 9	David Coulthard Michael Schumacher Mika Häkkinen	McLaren Ferrari McLaren	58
1996	1996 Australian F1 GP	March 10	Damon Hill Jacques Villeneuve Eddie Irvine	Williams Williams Ferrari	58

Driver Ranking

Driver Ranking Albert Park Circuit

	Driver	GP	1st	2nd	3rd	Pod	Pole	FL	Avg Grid	Avg Pos	Points
1	Michael Schumacher	14	4	1	0	5	3	3	5.1	9.4	52
2	Sebastian Vettel	13	3	1	3	7	3	0	5.0	8.1	150
3	Jenson Button	17	3	0	1	4	2	1	9.2	9.5	88
4	Lewis Hamilton	16	2	6	2	10	8	1	4.1	5.8	194
5	David Coulthard	13	2	2	0	4	0	0	7.5	9.3	39
6	Kimi Räikkönen	17	2	1	3	6	1	6	8.2	7.4	99
7	Nico Rosberg	11	2	1	1	4	0	2	6.5	8.6	89
8	Fernando Alonso	19	1	2	3	6	0	1	8.5	6.5	134
9	Charles Leclerc	5	1	1	0	2	1	2	7.0	8.2	55
10	Valtteri Bottas	9	1	0	1	2	0	1	11.4	8.0	63
11	Max Verstappen	8	1	0	1	2	2	0	4.1	9.4	59
12	Eddie Irvine	7	1	0	1	2	0	0	8.6	9.1	20
13	Mika Häkkinen	6	1	0	1	2	3	1	2.8	9.8	16
14	Carlos Sainz	8	1	0	0	1	0	0	8.3	11.1	34
15	Giancarlo Fisichella	14	1	0	0	1	1	0	10.4	10.3	23
16	Damon Hill	3	1	0	0	1	0	0	7.0	9.7	10
17	Rubens Barrichello	16	0	4	1	5	1	1	8.0	10.2	42
18	Juan Pablo Montoya	6	0	2	0	2	0	0	6.2	7.3	21
19	Heinz-Harald Frentzen	8	0	1	1	2	0	1	6.3	7.1	15
20	Sergio Pérez	12	0	1	0	1	0	1	12.6	9.7	51
21	Kevin Magnussen	8	0	1	0	1	0	0	11.5	11.6	27
22	Nick Heidfeld	11	0	1	0	1	0	0	9.8	10.4	21
23	Robert Kubica	5	0	1	0	1	0	0	8.0	12.4	18
24	Jacques Villeneuve	10	0	1	0	1	2	1	7.5	10.6	14
25	Ralf Schumacher	11	0	0	3	3	0	0	8.6	10.2	21
26	Felipe Massa	15	0	0	1	1	0	1	9.5	11.1	66
27	Lando Norris	4	0	0	1	1	0	0	7.0	6.5	33
28	Vitaly Petrov	3	0	0	1	1	0	0	14.3	13.7	15
29	George Russell	4	0	0	1	1	0	0	8.5	13.5	15
30	Jarno Trulli	14	0	0	1	1	0	0	10.4	11.5	12
31	Daniel Ricciardo	10	0	0	0	0	0	2	10.1	11.8	42
32	Nico Hülkenberg	10	0	0	0	0	0	0	11.0	10.5	40
33	Mark Webber	12	0	0	0	0	0	1	7.4	10.8	38
34	Lance Stroll	6	0	0	0	0	0	0	13.8	10.2	22
35	Oscar Piastri	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	10.5	6.0	16
36	Felipe Nasr	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	14.0	10.0	10
37	Romain Grosjean	8	0	0	0	0	0	0	9.9	15.0	9
38	Kamui Kobayashi	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	13.0	18.0	8
39	Adrian Sutil	7	0	0	0	0	0	0	15.6	12.4	8
40	Yuki Tsunoda	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	11.0	10.7	7
41	Esteban Ocon	5	0	0	0	0	0	0	12.2	11.8	7
42	Gerhard Berger	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	8.5	4.0	6
43	Paul di Resta	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	12.7	9.3	6
44	Vitantonio Liuzzi	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	14.7	12.3	6
45	Sébastien Buemi	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	11.7	12.0	6
46	Daniil Kvyat	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	10.7	9.3	5
47	Timo Glock	5	0	0	0	0	0	0	20.2	11.6	5
48	Jean-Eric Vergne	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	10.0	10.3	4
49	Marcus Ericsson	5	0	0	0	0	0	0	14.8	15.8	4
50	Heikki Kovalainen	6	0	0	0	0	0	1	14.0	13.8	4
51	Kazuki Nakajima	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	12.0	12.0	3
52	Sébastien Bourdais	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	17.0	7.5	3
53	Stoffel Vandoorne	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	14.5	11.0	2
54	Zhou Guanyu	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	16.7	11.7	2
55	Christian Klien	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	12.7	12.3	2
56	Pierre Gasly	5	0	0	0	0	0	0	14.8	12.8	2
57	Mika Salo	5	0	0	0	0	0	0	13.6	9.6	2
58	Olivier Panis	8	0	0	0	0	0	0	13.1	11.4	2
59	Nicola Larini	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	13.0	6.0	1
60	Ricardo Zonta	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	17.5	7.5	1
61	Pedro de la Rosa	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	16.0	11.5	1
62	Johnny Herbert	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	11.5	17.3	1
63	Alex Albon	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	13.3	13.5	1
64	Sergey Sirotkin	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	19.0	20.0	0
65	Karun Chandhok	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	22.0	14.0	0
66	Luca Badoer	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	21.0	10.0	0
67	Justin Wilson	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	19.0	16.0	0
68	Brendon Hartley	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	16.0	15.0	0
69	Nyck de Vries	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	15.0	15.0	0
70	Alessandro Zanardi	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	15.0	17.0	0
71	Pascal Wehrlein	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	21.0	16.0	0
72	Allan McNish	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	16.0	22.0	0
73	Esteban Tuero	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	17.0	15.0	0
74	Pedro Lamy	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	17.0	12.0	0
75	Luciano Burti	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	21.0	8.0	0
76	Gianmaria Bruni	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	20.0	17.0	0
77	Lucas di Grassi	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	24.0	16.0	0
78	Mick Schumacher	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	15.0	13.0	0
79	Martin Brundle	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	19.0	19.0	0
80	Ralph Firman	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	17.0	19.0	0
81	Patrick Friesacher	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	16.0	17.0	0
82	Jérôme d'Ambrosio	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	22.0	14.0	0
83	Tarso Marques	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	22.0	20.0	0
84	Zsolt Baumgartner	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	17.0	19.0	0
85	Narain Karthikeyan	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	12.0	15.0	0
86	Nicholas Latifi	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	18.0	16.0	0
87	Giedo van der Garde	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	21.0	18.0	0
88	Rio Haryanto	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	22.0	19.0	0
89	Alex Yoong	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	21.0	7.0	0
90	Antônio Pizzonia	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	18.0	13.0	0
91	Yuji Ide	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	22.0	13.0	0
92	Giorgio Pantano	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	16.0	14.0	0
93	Jules Bianchi	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	18.5	14.5	0
94	Ricardo Rosset	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	18.5	11.0	0
95	Bruno Senna	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	17.5	18.0	0
96	Tiago Monteiro	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	17.0	15.5	0
97	Cristiano da Matta	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	14.5	15.0	0
98	Toranosuke Takagi	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	15.0	14.0	0
99	Max Chilton	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	18.5	15.0	0
100	Jolyon Palmer	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	16.5	15.0	0

Team Ranking

Team Ranking Albert Park Circuit

	Team	GP	1st	2nd	3rd	Pod	Pole	FL	Avg Grid	Avg Pos	Points
1	Ferrari	27	10	6	6	22	6	9	5.6	7.5	410
2	McLaren	27	6	6	7	19	5	6	7.6	8.2	302
3	Mercedes	13	4	6	2	12	6	3	4.5	8.2	276
4	Red Bull	18	2	2	2	6	5	4	6.7	9.4	227
5	Renault	14	2	1	3	6	1	1	10.6	9.0	103
6	Williams	27	1	3	4	8	2	3	10.2	11.6	121
7	Brawn	1	1	1	0	2	1	0	1.5	1.5	18
8	Lotus F1	4	1	0	0	1	0	1	12.1	12.4	32
9	BMW Sauber	5	0	1	0	1	0	0	8.5	10.4	21
10	Jordan	10	0	1	0	1	0	0	11.3	14.5	8
11	Toyota	8	0	0	2	2	0	0	12.1	11.1	19
12	Aston Martin	3	0	0	1	1	0	0	10.8	8.7	39
13	Force India	11	0	0	0	0	0	0	13.0	11.0	49
14	Sauber	19	0	0	0	0	0	0	12.9	12.8	35
15	Toro Rosso	14	0	0	0	0	0	0	12.4	12.0	29
16	Haas	7	0	0	0	0	0	0	12.2	13.4	25
17	Benetton	6	0	0	0	0	0	0	10.2	9.3	11
18	Alfa Romeo	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	14.2	10.3	10
19	BAR	7	0	0	0	0	0	0	10.6	11.0	7
20	Racing Bulls	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	13.0	9.5	6
21	Alpine	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	11.7	13.3	6
22	AlphaTauri	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	12.8	12.3	3
23	Jaguar	5	0	0	0	0	0	0	15.6	13.3	3
24	Racing Point	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	17.3	14.3	2
25	Honda	3	0	0	0	0	1	0	11.5	13.8	2
26	Stewart	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	13.2	14.2	2
27	Prost	5	0	0	0	0	0	0	15.6	11.8	2
28	Minardi	10	0	0	0	0	0	0	18.8	13.5	2
29	Tyrrell	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	16.0	13.3	1
30	Arrows	6	0	0	0	0	0	0	16.6	13.4	1
31	Midland	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	18.5	13.0	0
32	Ligier	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	15.5	8.5	0
33	Spyker	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	20.5	19.5	0
34	Footwork	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	15.0	13.0	0
35	Virgin Racing	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	22.5	15.0	0
36	HRT	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	21.5	17.0	0
37	Super Aguri	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	17.3	13.8	0
38	Caterham	5	0	0	0	0	0	0	19.0	17.0	0
39	Manor	5	0	0	0	0	0	0	19.8	15.4	0